Vaccine Hesitancy

Make no mistake – there is good data on these scientific issues. An estimated 1 in 500 Americans have died from complications due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus; Canada has fared substantially better. Canada also has had a much more successful vaccination rollout than the US. The data for Alberta indicates that nonvaccinated individuals are substantially more likely to enter the ICU and are substantially more likely to die from COVID than the vaccinated: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-severeoutcomes-covid-vac…

But this is not purely a scientific issue. There are also dynamics from the social sciences – why are certain socio-economic sectors more prone to covid-related negative outcomes? Is the political use of science the same as science itself? What exactly changed about the pandemic between Tuesday and Thursday of this past week?

There are also philosophical issues – is health the greatest good? Is there a distinction between fetal cells and cells that are generations removed from fetal cells? Are decisions for the greater good the most ethical decisions? When should personal freedoms be affected by political decisions?

It is clear that there are also religious and theological dimensions. Do the vaccines pose ethical challenges for Christians? What does loving one’s neighbor, or taking up one’s cross, look like practically during a pandemic?

These are issues with no easy answers – but answers require the ability to think both broadly and deeply across disciplines, and this is what we strive to provide at Ambrose.

The recent political response to the pandemic has caught some of you in the crossfire. You are being asked to make difficult decisions about your academic future – to be vaccinated or to remain unvaccinated (medical exemptions excepted). Although I cannot forecast the future, it looks increasingly likely that those of you wishing to pursue education or health-related jobs are going to have a difficult time entering the workforce without proof of vaccination. What are you to do?

Thankfully, Christian ethicists, theologians, scientists, and leaders have collaborated across the political spectrum to help guide us in our response. In North America, there are only two denominations with official doctrinal positions that oppose vaccines: Church of Christ Scientist (often known as Christian Science) and the Dutch Reformed.

Ultimately the decision will be yours, but I thought you might find it helpful to see how different Christian organizations have responded to covid vaccines. Make no mistake – there is a difference between agreeing that vaccines are effective for preventing transmission, severity and spread of covid, and agreeing that the government should be mandating vaccinations; I am speaking here only of the vaccines themselves. The following links involve both what one might consider left-leaning or liberal evangelical organizations, such as BioLogos, to what one might consider right-leaning or conservative evangelical organizations, such as the Southern Baptist Convention or Creation Ministries International.

There are also non-evangelical voices such as the Roman Catholic Church, and non-denominational organizations such as the American Scientific Affiliation. They will each provide slightly different responses, but they are united in stating that vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 virus are effective, safe, and ethically responsible. The links below are not exhaustive, but I hope will help you see that the church, in its various denominational forms, without incentives from pharmaceutical companies, largely see vaccinations as a good that Christians should be participating in.

I do not mind sharing with you that I have received two doses of Pfizer. I believe the mRNA vaccines to be ethically more responsible than other vaccine options, but I do not fault my fellow Christians for taking virus-derived vaccines to ensure their health and the health of others. I had very little reaction to the vaccines, and have been healthy since.

Some resources, to help you make your decision, are below and attached:

Christian Medical and Dental Associations, https://cmda.org/navigating-vaccine-ethics/

American Scientific Affiliation (group of evangelicals in the sciences) – a paper from their journal

Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith is attached

Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (Southern Baptist), https://erlc.com/resourcelibrary/articles/explainer-vaccines-and-aborte…

National Catholic Bioethics Center (Roman Catholic), https://www.ncbcenter.org/resources-andstatements-cms/faq-on-the-use-of…

BioLogos (Evangelical - evolutionary creationist) - https://biologos.org/common-questions/shouldchristians-get-vaccinated

Creation Ministries International (Evangelical - young earth creationist) - https://creation.com/cmivaccination

Dr. Francis Collins, evangelical and Director of the NIH, via the North Shore Alliance website -
https://www.nsac.bc.ca/news/a-christian-perspective-on-the-covid-vaccin…

Wishing you wisdom and clarity,
Matthew Morris

It is difficult to imagine a world without vaccines. What if Edward Jenner never developed a vaccine from cow pox to prevent smallpox infections? What if Louis Pasteur never developed a rabies vaccine? What if Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk never developed polio vaccines? Without these vaccines, the remnants of humanity would likely be waging a war against several pandemics at once. Vaccination is considered one of the greatest life-saving medical achievements of all time.1

While the majority of pharmaceuticals treat disease, vaccines prevent disease. Vaccines train the immune system to detect and destroy an infectious agent. This prevents infectious diseases in the individuals who receive vaccines and also prevents infectious diseases in the broader population by reducing disease transmission. If enough people are vaccinated, then the chance of an infected case passing the disease to someone who is unvaccinated and susceptible is quite low. This population level of protection is known as herd immunity. Therefore, high vaccination rates protect both the individuals who were vaccinated and the few who were not.

Vaccination rates in North America are below the target that achieves herd immunity. For some infectious diseases, 95% of the population must be vaccinated. Results of the 2017 Childhood National Immunization Coverage Survey showed that vaccination coverage in twoyear-old Canadians was 73.4% to 90.7% depending on the vaccine. This same survey reported 2.35% of Canadian children were completely unvaccinated at age two.2

Results of the similar 2017 National Immunization Survey in the United States show vaccination coverage for a similar age (19–35 months) to be between 59.7% and 94.0% depending on the vaccine, and 1.1% of children in this age group were completely unvaccinated.3

The success of vaccines is threatened by a growing sense of uncertainty, in secular groups and Christians alike. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described this as “vaccine hesitancy” which encompasses vaccine uncertainty, vaccine delays, and vaccine refusals.4

In contrast, the term “anti-vaxers” refers to just refusals. Vaccine hesitancy refers to delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite availability of vaccine services. Vaccine hesitancy is complex and context specific, varying across time, place and vaccines. It is influenced by factors such as complacency, convenience and confidence.5

The WHO named vaccine hesitancy one of the top ten risks to global health in 2019.6

This list also includes health challenges such as pollution and antimicrobial resistance, and significant pathogens such as HIV and influenza. In January 2020, the WHO released a list of urgent health challenges for the next decade. This included expanding access to medicines, stopping infectious diseases, earning public trust, and more.7

Vaccination is a key component in these challenges. Unfortunately, there are people of faith known for their vaccine hesitancy and for their religious exemptions from vaccines.8

Recent measles outbreaks in British Columbia, Quebec, and New York have all involved unvaccinated religious groups.9 In addition, some religious schools in Canada and the United States have vaccination rates well below average.10

All American states require regular vaccines for children attending public school. All states accept medical exemptions from vaccinations, as they should. The majority of states (45 to be exact) accept religious, philosophical, and/or personal belief exemptions.11 In Canada, Ontario and New Brunswick are the only provinces that require regular vaccines for children attending public schools, and both accept religious and/or philosophical exemptions.12 The New Brunswick government voted down Bill 11 in June 2020 which proposed to remove these exemptions.13 Vaccination is voluntary in all other Canadian provinces.

The topic of vaccine hesitancy is of acute concern given the current COVID-19 pandemic, and the risk of more pandemics in the future. Mass vaccinations may be the only way to control the spread of pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2,14 but herd immunity may be difficult to achieve due to vaccine hesitancy.15

Understanding the reasons for vaccine hesitancy, and addressing them successfully, is of immediate importance. The purpose of this article is to review the reasons for vaccine hesitancy, especially among Christians, and to propose factual and logical responses. Common reasons for vaccine hesitancy among Christians in North America include the idea that vaccines interfere with divine providence, vaccines defile the body—God’s temple, vaccines are not safe, vaccines have side effects and can cause autism, and that vaccine manufacturing involves aborted stem cells.16 These will be addressed in the following text.